


…Yet

by patchfire, raving_liberal



Series: Story of Three Boys [86]
Category: College Football RPF, Glee
Genre: Homophobic Language, Implied Homophobic Violence, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-10-18
Updated: 2012-10-18
Packaged: 2017-11-16 13:44:55
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,456
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/540082
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/patchfire/pseuds/patchfire, https://archiveofourown.org/users/raving_liberal/pseuds/raving_liberal
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The Big Ten's not like the SEC.</p>
            </blockquote>





	…Yet

Despite the persistent need for jock itch cream, Sam likes LSU. Being on the football team means a lot of tutors to help with his dyslexia, more than he’d get otherwise. There’s good food, at least for the football team, and the strength and conditioning coach is superb. And yeah, Sam was redshirted his first year, but he’d expected that. 

There’s the typical douchebags, Sam figures; from talking to Karofsky and Finn, and to a lesser extent the rest of the guys from McKinley, he gathers that ‘douchebags on a college campus’ is a constant that no one can escape. But Sam likes his frat brothers, with just a couple of exceptions, and he likes his teammates, again with just a few exceptions. 

Sam does skip the Spring Intersession, which means he has almost a month away from Baton Rouge. It ends up being just a couple of weeks in Lima, by the time they go on a family vacation; while in Lima, Sam catches up with Mike a few times and they compare their vastly different college experiences. Mike’s eager to get back to Boston, and Sam doesn’t really blame him. They’re settled enough in their college lives to actually miss their high school friendship, and they make tentative plans to get together at some point during the next school year – probably spring semester, thanks to football. 

He’s ready to be back in Baton Rouge, even eager to be back at classes, and Sam falls into the rhythm of summer workouts easily. Most of the team hangs out together in the evenings, since they’re all in the same building, and Sam doesn’t pay attention to the gossip for the first week or so. 

Sam notices when Jimmy stops hanging out with them as often though. Jimmy’s a cool guy, from a small town in Louisiana, a year ahead of Sam but in the same major. Since they’re both offensive players but not starting roster, and neither of them are offensive line, Sam’s probably spent more time with Jimmy than some of the guys on the team. 

It’s mid-July before Sam thinks to ask Jimmy what’s going on. “You missed a good movie the other night,” Sam says as they walk towards class. 

“Yeah.” Jimmy sighs. “You should be careful, Sammy. They’ll start talking about you, too.”

“What are they saying?”

“Saying I’m a queer,” Jimmy whispers, looking around before he speaks. 

Sam rolls his eyes. “Let ’em say what they want about me,” he declares, because really, does it matter? Jimmy looks at him like he’s expecting another question from Sam, the question of whether or not it’s true, but the thing is, Sam doesn’t care, so why should he ask?

He does notice that there’s more talk, though, over the next few weeks. It gets louder, too, until he notices Jimmy cringing during the first week of camp, whenever they’re in the locker room. All the coaches ignore it, focusing on their first game. They’re traveling for the first game, to Texas A&M, and Sam’s pretty sure the coaching staff doesn’t care about the end of summer classes, the start of fall classes, or anything that doesn’t directly relate to having one in the W column at the end of the day on August 31. Definitely not the rumors about Jimmy. 

The six hour bus ride to College Station starts at noon on Friday, and they all go through a light workout before a late dinner and “Lights out everybody!” Sam gets up and does his usual crunches, pull-ups, and push-ups, figuring he’s unlikely to be out on the field, even though he’s not redshirted anymore. 

They win the game, and Sam trots back to the locker room, not really paying attention. He doesn’t hear about any of it until they’re all on the bus and the whispers start. Jimmy at the front of the bus, bruised and bleeding; two of the defensive linemen, looking smug; a group of Aggie players chanting something outside the bus.

> Saturday 31 August 2013  
>  _posted 20:87_
> 
> **Investigating**
> 
> SI is looking into reports of a brawl following the Texas A&M home opener against LSU. It's being reported that Jimmy Baptiste, sophomore wide receiver for LSU, was involved in an altercation with several Texas A&M players. Reportedly, two of Baptiste's teammates were also involved; initial reports suggest that they were trying to pull Baptiste off the involved Aggies. Both Texas A&M and LSU will only say that they are 'investigating' and any penalties will be determined following their investigations.

Finn frowns at what he sees on his computer screen.

"Hey," he says over his shoulder to Jamie, who's sitting on the futon playing _NBA 2K13_. "Did you see about this LSU thing?"

"That fight?" Jamie tosses back. "Heard about it this morning while I was doing my workout."

"Edwards?" Finn asks him.

"Isn't it always?"

"Did he know anything more than what they've got on SI?" Finn shuts his laptop and sits down on the other end of the futon.

"Said he saw someone say something on _Operation Sports_ about how the guy had it coming for what he's been doing," Jamie says. "So more than just a rivalry thing, I'm guessing."

"If you hear anything else, let me know. I might call my friend Sam later, see if he knows anything," Finn says, then he grins. "I might even get to beat Edwards to the gossip for once."

> LSU, Aggie fight motivated by hate, not the game?  
>  Sunday, September 1, 2013 — 2:35 pm
> 
> GLAAD representatives have been unable to talk to representatives of either Texas A&M or LSU regarding the fight that took place following their season opener in College Station. Despite initial reports, social media sites were quick to report that the fight may have been due to rumors about the sexual orientation of Jimmy Baptiste. A tweet from an Aggie fan is below:
> 
> _We didn't win the game but our guys put that faggot Baptiste in his place! Way to go LSU players that helped._
> 
> Again, neither LSU nor Texas A&M will comment, but we at GLAAD are closely following any and all developments to this story. 

There’s nothing said about what happened. There’s no mention made of the fight, what the Aggies were chanting, or the rumors that have been circulating. Instead, one of the defensive coordinators stands up, announces that he’s declaring a silent bus, and everyone has five minutes to find their earbuds and some schoolwork.

Things are definitely weird when the football coach tells them to do schoolwork, Sam has to admit, and he props his phone in the middle of his textbook for nutritional assessment. He puts in his earbuds, listening absently to the music as he searches the news on his phone. There’s already a report or two about what’s being termed either a fight or a brawl, but the difference in _how_ it’s being reported makes Sam straighten in his seat. 

A fight’s one thing; if the Aggie players jumped Jimmy because of those rumors, then chances are those two linemen jumped in to _help_ the Aggies. Not Jimmy. 

By the time they’ve hit the state line, though, the coaches on the bus have given up on keeping it silent, and Sam pauses his music without taking his earbuds out. He’ll probably figure out more that way. It doesn’t take long for Sam to realize that the less official version of the story is the right one. 

Sam doesn’t see Jimmy at all the next day at workouts, and when the team practices on Labor Day, Jimmy isn’t there, but then again, neither are the two defensive linemen. On Tuesday afternoon, though, the head coach comes into the locker room after practice and gets everyone’s attention. 

“Press release is going out this evening,” he says without any preamble. “After some investigating by LSU and Texas A&M, we’ve determined what we’re gonna do about that fight on Saturday after the game. Nasty business. Robicheaux and Camden are suspended for two games.” Sam has a brief moment where he thinks justice has been serviced, but the coach keeps talking. “Not sure what A&M’s doing. And Baptiste is dismissed from the team.”

Sam sits down on the bench, shaking his head. Robicheaux and Camden were barely injured, if at all; from what he can find online, the Aggie players weren’t injured at all. Sam had gotten a good enough glimpse of Jimmy on Saturday night to assume that he wasn’t working out or practicing because of his injuries. Yet… they’re obviously blaming it on him.

Five minutes later, without talking to anyone, Sam’s out the door, heading towards a meeting with his tutor. None of this sits right.

> FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
> 
> Baton Rouge, Louisiana — Tuesday, September 3, 2013
> 
> Following a thorough investigation of the events following the Tigers’ season opening win against the Texas A&M Aggies in College Station, the following penalties are imposed:
> 
>   * Thomas Robicheaux and Derek Camden are suspended for two games, beginning this Saturday, September 7. 
>   * James Baptiste, Jr. is dismissed from the team. 
> 

> 
> Please direct any questions to the LSU Tigers Athletic Department.

The LSU situation is looking more and more like a fuck shit stack, based on the forum posts Edwards has been sharing with everybody and the list of links Kurt has sent him. At first, Finn’s confused, then he’s a little more concerned than he is confused, and then he’s just determined to talk to Sam and figure out what the hell is going on in Louisiana, because he’s borderline freaking out. Some of what he’s reading hits a little too close to home.

“Hey, Finn!” Sam answers the phone, sounding relaxed.

“Hey, man,” Finn says. “So, sorry to jump right into it or whatever, but bring me up to speed on this Baptiste thing. I’m reading some crazy stuff.”

“Oh, man.” Now Sam sounds a lot less relaxed. “It’s crazy, dude. Jimmy— I saw them all get on the bus after the game, right? And Jimmy was messed up. Robicheaux and Camden? Not so much. And there’s, you know. Rumors, all summer, some of the team.” He pauses. “I don’t know, but it feels like Jimmy got hung out to dry.”

“So it _is_ like it sounded like on the forums, then?” Finn asks. “He got jumped because they think he’s…" He trails off, not because he’s got a problem with the word, but because saying it out loud sort of opens up a world of phenomenally shitty possibilities that Finn hasn’t exactly gotten around to considering yet. 

“Yeah. It is,” Sam admits. “Is he? Don’t know, don’t care. He got a really bad deal, though, for sure.”

“But that’s, like, hate crime stuff,” Finn says. “Shouldn’t somebody do something about it? Is Jimmy gonna fight it?”

“That’s the SEC,” Sam says. “I mean, what can he do? If he fights it with ‘I’m not gay’, he looks like a douchebag, right? But otherwise he’s having to come out when maybe that wasn’t his plan. That’s what I figure anyway. I haven’t seen him since Saturday.”

“That sucks,” Finn sighs. “I mean, I know the SEC’s, like… not the most open-minded conference, I guess is a nice way to say it. Do you think he’s gonna try to play somewhere else? It wouldn’t be like that up here, I don’t think. It’s a lot better in the Big 10.”

“Yeah, I bet it’s not as much better as you’d hope, though,” Sam says. “I don’t know what he’s going to do. I mean, classes have already started and he’s from Louisiana, so he might stay here, just not on the team? I don’t know where he could go, to be honest. Not now.”

“Shit. That really does suck,” Finn says. “It just doesn’t seem right. I mean, obviously it’s not right, but you know what I mean. Somebody getting his ass kicked and he’s the one who gets the boot.”

“No, I know. I’m going to try to track him down tomorrow or the next day and find out what he’s doing next. He tried to convince me not to talk to him even back in the summer, but whatever.” Sam snorts. “It’s not right, and if they haven’t all figured out by now that I don’t care that much about what they say, well.”

“I hear you, man. I hear you.” Finn exhales loudly. “Watch your back, though. If a rumor’s enough to do it…"

“Yeah, I know. For awhile I just thought the coaches didn’t realize what was being said, but I think they just didn’t care.” 

“It’s a fuck shit stack, for sure,” Finn says. “I wanna think something like that wouldn’t ever happen here, but maybe if it were somebody who’s higher-profile… Nah, it wouldn’t happen at UW. It’s not like that here.”

“I hope not, dude. Hey, great game Saturday.”

“Thanks, man. You think you’re gonna see some play this year?”

“Maybe near the end of some games after it’s already sewn up,” Sam laughs. “Nothing like you are.”

“Maybe somebody’ll get, I dunno. Like a kidney stone or something,” Finn says. “Get you in there sooner. Worked out pretty great for me, anyway.”

“ _I gotta feeling…_ ” Sam sings. “That this season’s gonna be a good season.”

Finn groans. “You’re killing, Sam. Listen, I’ll talk to you later in the season. Let me know if you hear anything else. Kurt’s been sending me all these links, so the least I can do is let him know the insider’s perspective or whatever.”

Sam chuckles. “I bet. Yeah, good talking to you, man. Bye!”

Finn ends the call and lies back on his bed. It’s true, what he told Sam. It’s gotta be true. Something like that wouldn’t happen at UW, probably not in the Big 10 at all, but… at the same time, now Finn’s thinking about it. There haven’t been any rumors about anybody on their team, not that kind of rumor, not that Finn has heard, anyway, but there’s a great big looming ‘yet’ that keeps tacking itself on to Finn’s thoughts.

No rumors… yet.  
No rumors about Finn… yet.  
No problems at UW… yet.

Finn shakes his head to clear it and tells himself he’s being an idiot. He has no reason to think anybody would ever guess what’s going on with him, Kurt, and Puck, no reason to think they’d care if they knew, and no reason to think anybody in the Big 10 would care. _Finn_ isn’t in any kind of danger, not like some SEC player might be down in Texas. No point in getting himself worked up over something that wouldn’t ever happen.


End file.
